Author: Rick Lewis

I served as a local church pastor for 30 years in Australia and the UK. Since 2011 I have been working as a full-time mentor through Anamcara Consulting.
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Strengthening Hope

Hope is a powerful force. When people possess hope they are more resilient, creative, positive and diligent. With hope, we can keep going through tough times. Without it, we tend to fall into despair and a sense of powerlessness. Because it’s so powerful, people will grasp for hope wherever they can find it. But if that hope turns out to have no foundation, the end result can be devastating. As a mentor, I want to strengthen hope in those I serve. But I know I need to be careful not to encourage false hope. Continue reading “Strengthening Hope”

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Empathy is a human superpower

Empathy is a human superpower, isn’t it?

I was in a seminar recently in which we were discussing the possible usefulness of Artificial Intelligence in mentoring, and even whether AI could take over the role of a mentor. AI is certainly a powerful tool, and it’s coming, ready or not, into all of our lives. It’s great at summarising large quantities of input, it handles routine IT/administrative tasks extraordinarily quickly (as long as you can tell it precisely what you require done) and can bring to your attention points of view you might not have thought of. You have to watch it though. Generative AI isn’t great at distinguishing between facts and plausible possibilities.

Continue reading “Empathy is a human superpower”

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Beyond Problems

Many of us get our inspiration to mentor others from a strong desire to help people. While a noble motivation, this can easily slide into a rut of helping people overcome their problems. I’ve noticed that if I get stuck there, it limits the effectiveness of my mentoring.

Of course, there is much value in helping people explore the hindering forces in their lives that produce problems, but that’s just one side of the equation. By adding an equal emphasis on a person’s assets, strengths, experience – all the helping forces – we can get a much better picture of the situation. Forward momentum and the emergence of hope often depend on a better appreciation of what a person has going for them. Continue reading “Beyond Problems”

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My Mentoree is Wrong…

My mentoree is wrong. What do I do now?

Perhaps the thought in your mind is not quite so harsh as, “My mentoree is wrong”. But you will most likely have had the experience of being concerned about the wisdom of a position they hold or something they have done, or intend to do. As you start to explore the matter you realise you significantly disagree with your mentoree. In that moment, the usual safe, collaborative environment you have worked hard to develop can drain away and you’re confronted with a conflict.

What are you going to do? Here are ten suggestions: Continue reading “My Mentoree is Wrong…”

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What Makes Christian Mentoring CHRISTIAN?

It’s important to me that Christian mentoring is not just a secular practice that we Christians have picked up and given a spiritual makeover. It’s an enduring element in the Christian tradition, from Biblical times, through church history and down to the present. And yet, Christians don’t own mentoring as a discipline. It’s actually a human thing, practiced in various forms and known by various names in every culture all around the world since, I would venture to say, the beginning of civilisation. Mentoring is a very broad category and Christian mentoring is a distinct subset.

Continue reading “What Makes Christian Mentoring CHRISTIAN?”

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Supporting New Year Resolutions

It’s fashionable these days to be cynical about New Year resolutions, dismissing them as laughable, empty wishes to lose weight or finally get organised. But the beginning of a year is a great time to be hopeful and plan for personal growth! Mentoring sessions at the beginning of a calendar year usually have a ‘fresh start’ feel to them. It’s like we finish one chapter, start a new one and have a renewed sense of possibility and expectation. 

Continue reading “Supporting New Year Resolutions”
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Effective Encouragement

We can all use a little encouragement from time to time. But why is it that some attempts at encouragement fall flat while others really hit the spot? Think about the times when you’ve needed a lift and someone has said or done something that has been particularly effective. What is it about those sorts of interactions that set them apart?

I’ve been reflecting on this recently because I’d like to be more effective at encouraging others. I reckon that if I can figure what works for me, I’ve got a head start into understanding how I might become a better encourager. I’ve come up with a couple of lists which I’ll share here as a discussion starter.

Continue reading “Effective Encouragement”

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Using Written Exercises in Mentoring

Mentoring sessions typically consist of conversations conducted verbally, whether face to face, via video link or on the phone. This usually serves us well and, as mentors, we quite rightly put a lot of effort into improving our conversational skills in asking good questions, listening deeply to what is said and providing appropriate verbal feedback.

However, we can add another string to our bow if we develop our use of written exercises in mentoring. Written exercises can be carried out within the mentoring session itself or could be done in preparation for or as a follow-up to a mentoring conversation. What can written exercises add that can’t be achieved through verbal communication?

Continue reading “Using Written Exercises in Mentoring”

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Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis

Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) is known as the father of social psychology. His thinking gave rise to so many processes we take for granted today such as action research, change process theory and sensitivity training. He coined the term ‘group dynamics’, did ground-breaking work in analysing organisational culture and gave us the psychological equation B = ƒ(P, E), meaning that human behaviour is a function of the person in their environment. That seems obvious now, but it took Lewin to make it clear.

Perhaps the most useful thing Lewin came up with for mentoring is his ‘Force Field Analysis’, a tool that I use all the time in mentoring sessions in an informal, unstructured way and occasionally as a formal exercise. The FFA provides a framework for identifying the factors that influence a situation:

    • factors that drive movement toward a goal – ‘helping forces’
    • factors that block movement toward a goal – ‘hindering forces’

Continue reading “Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Analysis”